Senior Bowl Day Two: North Practice Quick Thoughts

We are in between practices down here in Mobile, so I wanted to share some thoughts from this morning’s North Practice:

Quarterbacks:

-Overall I’d say there is a pretty noticeable difference between the North and South QB’s (and not just the height differential). Among the North QB’s Kirk Cousins looked the best today, but didn’t wow you in any one area. Russell Wilson had some nice throws, but wasn’t as impressive in full team drills. Kellen Moore can be very accurate, but very little zip on any of his throws. He also had some center exchange problems, which is worth noting.

Running backs:

-Really liked what I saw out of Doug Martin today, excellent burst and long speed. Showed some nice vision and cutting ability as well.

-Isaiah Pead ran well also, had some real nice cuts and cut backs, and ran strong.

– Dan Herron looked pretty strong running the ball as well. Not the fastest back, but fights for every yard.

Tight Ends:

-Michael Egnew is really the only top level TE in this group. Was really interested to see his blocking and I was pretty impressed. Drove LaVonte David out of the rushing play on a couple snaps.

Offensive Line:

-First Look at Mike Adams and I was impressed. He really controls the line of scrimmage and is dictating the path of the defender. He does well against both speed and power rushes.

-Michael Brewster isn’t the biggest lineman, but he looked good overall. There were some snap issues (which some of which is accounted for by familiarity) with all the centers, but I thought Brewster had some really clean snaps.

-Senio Kelemete from Washington I thought had a strong practice as well. Didn’t get to watch him as much as I’d like, but what I saw I was impressed with.

Wide Receivers:

-Brian Quick was really impressive today, just a fantastic athlete. He shows great strength in muscling for the ball. He needs to get cleaner breaks and sometimes has an extra step in there, but overall I thought he showed the speed and size to develop into a number 1 down the road.

-Marvin McNutt was also impressive, showed deceptive speed and separation (though needs to be more consistent in this area). Caught the ball well overall, though there was one or two other balls that were contested that I would have liked to have seen him come down with. Overall good day, but could have been great.

-Marvin Jones from Cal has really nice deep speed, gained separation on a number of times, but would have to slow down for the ball.

-DeVier Posey was disappointing today, never seemed to catch the ball cleanly with his hands. It would either be a double catch, or a body catch. Showed nice quickness and cutting ability, but couldn’t finish plays.

-Gerell Robinson might be overshadowed here, but he’s a nice raw talent. He’s a tick above the top guys, but he’s got nice hands and decent speed. It’s not long speed, but it should play at the NFL level. He’s very physical with DB’s as well.

Defensive Line:

-Mike Martin is just a force inside. He has a great base, gets of the snap quickly and plays low. He seems to get leverage on every single play, and allows his strength to really speak for him. He still needs to do better against the pass in countering and disengaging, but looks really good so far.

-Kendall Reyes from UConn is looking good and beating the O-line on a number of snaps.

-Cam Johnson from UVA looked really quick in the positional drills, I would have liked to have seen more in the team drills, but he showed some promise.

-Vinny Curry flashes some nice ability to get after the QB. Not dominant as some of the South pass rushers, but the talent is there.

Linebackers:

-Audie Cole looks very impressive, he uses his size well to fight of block and pursue the ball carrier.

-LaVonte David looks like he needs to be in a Tampa 2 system, looked small out there and got easily engulfed when going up against Egnew.

Cornerbacks:

-Alfonzo Dennard really struggled today when asked to run with the WR’s or in pursuit. He plays with good positioning and does better in zone, but he’s hurt himself so far this week. Not fluid when asked to turn his hips, and that was pretty clear in the positional drills.

-Leonard Johnson plays the ball really well, and he looked really fluid in the positional drills. Really played the bigger receivers well despite giving up 5-7 inches.

-Donnie Fletcher flipped his hips okay, it wasn’t great, but not a major concern either. Did well in coverage also, was physical against the bigger receivers.

-Asa Jackson has a lot of potential, but shows a good bit of rawness. He’s fast though, and quick at changing direction.

Safeties:

-George Illoka is big, and he runs like a horse. Wraps up well, and has nice lines of pursuit. He broke on one ball in the scrimmage and had a really nice INT. Not the cleanest in coverage, but shows enough to think that he can start.

-Harrison Smith from Notre Dame has really impressed me. I thought he’d be stiffer, but looked fluid for a big guy. He has great size and athletic ability and seems faster than you’d expect.

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